Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra - 10th Anniversary
Concert
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048 [10:42]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No. 3, K216 [23:26]
Pawel LUKASZEWSKI (b.1968)
Trinity Concerto for oboe and string orchestra (2007) [13:04]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Serenade for Strings, Op. 48 [29:06]
Ilya Gringolts (violin); Aleksandra Rojek-Duda (oboe)
Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
rec. 6 December, 2011, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Warsaw, Poland
CD ACCORD ACD 174-2 [76:18]
Outside Poland, this CD will have a fairly limited appeal, which is a pity.
I don’t know how much of a market there is for recordings of the Warsaw Philharmonic
Chamber Orchestra playing music from four different eras in classical history,
but if the only listener in the market for such an album is me, well, I’m
happy!
The primary cause of my satisfaction is the excellence of the Warsaw Philharmonic.
As everyone ought to know by now, they are one of the finest orchestras in
the world, especially blessed with a luxurious string section that calls to
mind the riches of central European orchestras decades ago. A secondary cause
of my satisfaction is the presence of Ilya Gringolts as the soloist in Mozart’s
Third Violin Concerto. The concerto gets a bracing performance from the very
first bars, with a speedy tempo for the first movement. Gringolts’ pliable,
romantic tone is coupled to this brisk performance with delightful results.
It all feels spontaneous and conversational, like the best live concerts.
Surrounding the Gringolts performance are Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto,
played not at all in period-performance style but appealing for the orchestra’s
sheer tonal splendor and the way one’s ears can swim in the inner voices,
and Pawel Lukaszewski’s oboe concerto, Trinity Concerto, here making its first
appearance on disc. It’s an appealing, melodic work with three movements that
never go on too long; try to imagine Vivaldi studying composition under Poulenc,
Martinu, and John Adams (in the exciting second movement) and you have a bit
of an idea of what to expect. I’m very glad to have heard it, and Aleksandra
Rojek-Duda is an excellent soloist whose account is a real pleasure.
We finish with a brisk account of the Tchaikovsky Serenade, the introduction
stripped of sentimentality and the orchestral strings in glorious form. It
is not the most lavish, romantic approach in terms of pacing and expansiveness;
I suppose with a huge mass of strings and such impeccable tone, one must rein
something in to prevent excess.
This performance is quite literally a single concert set to disc: it’s the
chamber orchestra’s tenth anniversary celebration, on 6 December 2011. (I’m
writing this on 6 January 2013.) Since I’ve seen these performers live, I’m
not at all surprised by their precision, power and luxurious feel; in the
concert hall the Warsaw Philharmonic purrs even more smoothly than it does
on its many Naxos discs. Unfortunately the live circumstances do necessitate
an extremely close microphone job, which makes this a bit dry and makes you
feel like you’re truly surrounded by musicians. The Mozart can be especially
claustrophobic. There’s applause after every piece. For however many of us
die-hard Warsaw Philharmonic fans there are in the world (not enough!), this
album is a delight.
Brian Reinhart
For however many of us die-hard Warsaw Philharmonic fans there are in the
world (not enough!), this album is a delight.
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc
through MusicWeb
for £13.50 postage paid World-wide.
